Andrew Hall

Andrew Hall is one of the most storied commodity traders of his generation, having built Phibro — Citigroup's commodity trading arm — into an extraordinarily profitable operation. He became famous when it was revealed that his 2008 contract entitled him to approximately $100 million in compensation, sparking congressional scrutiny and public controversy about banker pay at a firm that had received government bailout money. Hall subsequently left Citigroup after they sold Phibro to Occidental Petroleum, and founded Astenbeck Capital Management. His trading approach at Astenbeck focused on fundamental long-term oil supply-demand analysis, making multi-year bullish bets on crude oil prices based on the thesis of structurally declining non-OPEC production growth. The fund performed well in bullish oil periods but faced headwinds during extended periods of oil price weakness. Hall closed Astenbeck in 2017 following losses from sustained low oil prices, representing one of the challenges of running highly concentrated directional commodity strategies.